Banbridge 1st Pres

County : Down

Denomination : Presbyterian

Graveyard Name : Banbridge 1st Pres

Civil Parish : Seapatrick

Town / Townland : Edenderry

OS Reference : J125464

Other Information : OS 27 Grid Ref 125464 This is in the townland of Edenderry in Church Street, Banbridge It is the site of the original Presbyterian Church built in 1716 for the people of Seapatrick, the immediate stimulus being the new Bann bridge built in 1712 The congregation I adhered to the Synod of Ulster or Non-Subscrfbing section of Presbyterianism and built a new church on Downshire Road in 1844 The old building was removed soon after and the site used simply as a graveyard The graveyard is large but gravestones are sparsely spread over the whole An indication of the state of the graveyard is that the Rev Naihaniel Shaw's slab is completely covered over and fragmented It was only located by feel and the knowledge that such a stone existed somewhere in the graveyard The oldest stone dates from 1758 (Herron) but it and 2 other 18th century stones are lost All dates of death before 1900 have been copied The graveyard, while largely used by the Presbyterians, appears to have included other denominations Some of the old stones were copied by Captain R Linn and appear in Memorials of the Dead (M D) VII, 20 and 210.